


Black Vera Wang, The

by westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist



Category: The West Wing
Genre: Episode Tag, Episode: s03e20 The Black Vera Wang, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2005-08-12
Updated: 2005-08-12
Packaged: 2019-05-15 15:20:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,580
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14792985
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist/pseuds/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist
Summary: "It's a great dress."





	Black Vera Wang, The

**Author's Note:**

> A copy of this work was once archived at National Library, a part of the [ West Wing Fanfiction Central](https://fanlore.org/wiki/West_Wing_Fanfiction_Central), a West Wing fanfiction archive. More information about the Open Doors approved archive move can be found in the [announcement post](http://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/8325).

**The Black Vera Wang**

**by: Delightfully Eccentric**

**Pairing(s):** Donna/CJ  
**Category(s):** Slash, Post-Ep  
**Rating:** TEEN  
**Disclaimer:** The West Wing characters and histories aren't mine, and are used here for love, not money.  
**Summary:** "It's a great dress."  
**Spoiler:** Up to _The Black Vera Wang_.  


Donna wasn't surprised that CJ didn't mention the evening of poker and pizza at her place. If Donna had been invited, CJ would have had to ask Carol, and from there it would have snowballed. 

But nobody said anything when Josh showed up with her instead of Amy. 

She brought wine, and didn't think that it wasn't entirely necessary until she handed it over. CJ flashed a smile of thanks and pressed a hand against her arm. The hand lingered while CJ's eyes glazed. Donna tried not to be reminded of Josh, drifting. 

Josh flopped on the couch and stepped on the middle of a conversation about some sport she couldn't follow. He probably couldn't either. Toby's voice rose. 

CJ turned away. 

"Hey, Toby, twenty years I've been having you over and you've never brought me anything." 

He interrupted the flow of his argument, just for her, and took a cigar drag to punctuate: "I bring you opportunity." 

Someone laughed and someone else clinked his bottle against another. 

Donna was still standing in the doorway when CJ looked back. 

"Oh. Sorry. Toby, find a spare chair." 

Toby turned to Josh and raised an eyebrow. 

"I'll go," Sam offered. 

Toby shook his head. "He needs the exercise." 

Donna left them to it, stepping back into the hallway to slip out of her coat. She jumped when she felt hands at her back. CJ's fingers stroked restlessly across the coat's coarse fabric. It was hard not to look at her through a lingering haze of texture and those fingers. 

"This is gorgeous," CJ said, hanging it up. "I love this." 

She'd bought that coat three years ago. CJ sounded sincere, but then she always did. 

Donna smiled anyway, until Josh banged into her with a piece of furniture masquerading as an offensive weapon. It faded when she noticed CJ flinch before she laughed. She took the chair, scolded her boss, and settled down to play a game. 

She wondered if she'd have been so keen to come if she'd been invited. She picked at the label on her bottle with nails she'd had done on her lunch break and sighed. She probably would. 

Donna didn't play much poker. It made her uncomfortable that people could always tell what she was thinking. CJ wasn't playing much poker tonight. Her eyes were dim and her hand trailed as if the cards were rock. 

Sam's heart certainly wasn't in it after the week he'd had. Josh was thinking about Amy. 

Toby was shifty, glare everywhere – especially through the wall, as if to keep an eye on Simon fucking Donovan. She'd find herself looking after him, and by the time she shook herself, Toby was glancing over his shoulder. Looking for snipers? 

She watched CJ follow his gaze, and thought for a moment she could see a rising urge to rake nails across his face. It didn't last. After all, it was just Toby. Toby was like that. 

CJ wasn't always like this. 

Unless she'd been blind. 

From the way she stared at the wall, CJ might not recognise her own home. 

"Are we still playing?" asked Toby, soft with an edge. 

CJ blinked. It was more dangerous than Toby. She let her beer bottle roll away on the carpet, although it wasn't quite empty. 

Donna couldn't not pick it up. She passed across another when she saw CJ looking, then folded her hands, holding a shred of peace in her lap. 

"I'm starving," announced Josh. He may have been icebreaking. 

CJ slammed the bottle against the table edge. The cap stayed put but her nail came away, an angry jagged break. "Damn it." 

Donna leaned in to check for damage, but CJ's hand was moving too fast. 

"Maybe if they'd let me off house arrest I wouldn't be so tense." 

"We could have gone out," Sam said. 

"Sure, that would've been fantastic. The whole city watching Special Agent Chuckles looming over me with that disapproving smirk when he thought I'd had too much to drink..." 

"Maybe you have," said Toby, looking at no one but the wall. 

"Didn't you promise me food, Claudia Jean?" 

Josh was on his feet and heading for the kitchen. He made for the notice board the takeout flyers were pinned to, though they probably all knew the numbers and menus by heart. Donna certainly did. 

Toby looked at CJ for a moment before getting up to follow. 

CJ was a mile away again. She shook her head. Donna wasn't convinced that brought her any closer, but in any case found herself beckoned to the bedroom while the boys argued over pizza toppings. 

"I have to show you this dress I just bought." 

Donna perched on the edge of the bed. The duvet was softer than she'd imagined. She'd never have thought it would be pink. 

CJ took the black dress from the wardrobe and held it against herself. 

"I couldn't resist." 

"Oh, look, be careful." 

CJ looked where Donna pointed, to the drop of blood on the end of her finger. She shifted the dress to the other hand and took her finger into her mouth, licking at the blood. 

"Ow." She grimaced at the scratch of the torn nail. "I'm going to need to fix that." 

"I'm surprised the Secret Service hasn't come rushing in." Nobody was particularly amused. "Come on, let me see how it looks on you." 

CJ never hesitated before taking her clothes off. It was one of the things Donna liked about her. 

The blouse discarded next to Donna on the bed. She folded the pants as she watched, because that dress meant the bra had to go too, and CJ half-turned while she pulled the dress over her head. A moment's vision of naked profile, then the dress fell in a rush, cloaking her body in glamorous mystery. 

CJ tugged it just so till the lines clung to her own. Donna felt her cheeks tingle. 

"Wow." 

"You like it?" 

"It's sensational. What is that?" 

"Vera Wang." 

She winced. "I don't want to think about how much that cost." 

CJ twirled at herself in the mirror. "I try not to." 

Donna's hand hung in the air for a second before she let herself stroke the fabric across CJ's hip. She said, "Beautiful." CJ turned towards her hand. She looked up. It might have been the first time CJ's eyes had been clear all night. 

"Nobody could wear this like you do." 

CJ smiled. "I don't know. I think you'd look pretty good." Careful of crumples, she sat down on the bed. 

Donna knew there was going to be a kiss, so she moved first, with her fist balled, knuckles pressing CJ's thigh, and her other hand sweeping CJ's hair out from under the straps of the dress. CJ's lips were parted before hers could reach them. They were both hungrier than she'd realised. 

A break for air; CJ gasping and rubbing her jaw past her own. Her fingers closed around the zip so newly fastened and her mouth covered CJ's again. She briefly thought she could feel a scrape on CJ's tongue from the ragged nail, and she tried not to think this had anything to do with Simon and what he might hear through the wall. 

There was a clatter from the kitchen, no doubt something breaking. 

"Stay," CJ said, "when they go." 

It wasn't entirely the first time, but Donna counted this one. 

* 

The years had been kind to Donna. That was how she chose to look at it. 

She'd finally given up on respect and moved into the private sector, selling the skills learned with him. With the kind of irony she appreciated, it was perceived as a step far enough from wide-eyed idealism to win her enough regard, of a sort, to get a real job in politics. 

Donna still waited too long to make her moves. She wouldn't reach the top of the ladder, but she did enough to feel like it was something, and made enough to splurge on good couture for special occasions. 

She wore Vera Wang at her wedding; treated herself to Versace when the papers were served. Tonight she adjusted the slim straps on something long, black and Armani that reminded her of old times. 

She liked what she saw when she looked in the mirror. 

She wasn't so sure about what she saw reflected in her champagne. It hadn't taken long to discover that being stuck in a roomful of people she didn't want to talk to wasn't much more fun than being stuck with a roomful who didn't want to talk to her. 

A couple of the girls from work had said they might come, but she got the feeling they weren't wild about the idea of spending an evening off with the boss. 

There were too many people. She'd lost the will to distinguish them. 

Her eyes followed a pair of legs up from out the sea of ugly shoes, and found CJ, sandwiched between Toby and a man in whom she looked like she was trying very hard to be interested. She was wearing the black Vera Wang. 

Donna turned towards the bar. If she'd known CJ was going to be here, she'd have worn higher heels. 

She put down her glass. Drunk was too easy and morning too hard. 

With a mumbled hello and a long look up and down, Toby was the one to approach her. The corners of his mouth hinted there was hope for a smile, but it faded after her gulped from his glass. 

"You look nice," he said. 

Nice. Hadn't she always? 

She asked him how he'd been and he talked about the kids. He didn't mention the heart attack, or work, and she didn't ask if he should be drinking that, or when he was going to retire. 

He lifted the cigar to his lips before the ash could crumble onto her dress. 

"Come say hi to CJ." 

"She's talking to somebody." 

"He doesn't have much to say." 

She gave an acquiescent smile and remembered that she'd always liked Toby. 

Donna couldn't remember how long it had been, but she wasn't sure a bear hug was necessary. CJ's face didn't need to be pressed to her neck to hear that it was great to see her. In the corner of her eye, she could see Toby make his escape. 

There was an empty moment where compliments about outfits and appearances would have gone. Donna's skin flushed. 

"How's Josh?" they asked at the same time. 

They laughed, dutifully, and then there were the insubstantial sighs and the uneasy air. 

"Toby saw him not too long ago, I think." CJ looked around and frowned when he wasn't there. "He gets tired these days." 

"Bored, it looked like." 

CJ arched an eyebrow and stared for a long moment. Donna supposed she was evaluating the treatment of the years. 

Whatever she saw was enough to make her excuse herself from the conversation she'd been having. "You have my numbers," she reminded him, and shrugged when she turned back to Donna. 

They moved to a table with a clear view of the floor. The need to follow everything that might conceivably happen couldn't quite be shaken, even if they didn't particularly care. 

"You didn't introduce me." 

"He might have liked you better." 

She was probably kidding. It didn't matter. 

"You know, we could catch up some other time." 

CJ shook her head. "I'm out of town from Wednesday. Besides, we could catch up any time, but we never do." 

"We're busy." Donna had no one but herself to make excuses for these days. 

CJ touched the feathering of her hair and worried a crack on the table with her finger. "I know, but it's nice to… It's nice to see you, Donna." 

Nice. 

Still, it was her nature to say, "I've missed you," and, anyway, she meant it. 

It had been easier to smooth over the awkwardness when they saw each other every day. Donna had been born good at that. 

As it turned out, there wasn't much to catch up on. The biggest parts of their lives had been retold, on the grapevine if not the press, and they wouldn't mention anything that hadn't. 

A weariness crept up from her heart and settled over her eyes. 

CJ reached across to touch Donna's wrist, pulse against fingertip. 

"I'll walk you home," she said. 

The night was milder than Donna had anticipated and she let the shawl slide off her shoulders; caught CJ looking at her sideways. 

"You're wearing my dress." 

"Well, you're dressed up for a dead man." 

CJ's eyes went wide, enough to give the moon a run for its money, and then she began to laugh. It started off high and spread. 

"That'd be romantic, wouldn't it." 

She laughed again, and when she cupped Donna's chin, potential energy breathed life into every dream that hadn't come true. 

"You look good," CJ told her. 

Her skin around her mouth crinkled toward a smile under CJ's fingertips. She turned her head away. 

They slowed down as they neared CJ's street and were barely moving by the time they reached the top of the steps. Donna was surprised she hadn't moved. It couldn't be practical and there was little to be nostalgic about. 

"Are you coming up?" 

Donna glanced up and down the street before looking back at her. CJ's eyes were always worth meeting. "First can we be clear about what precisely I'm coming up for?" 

CJ didn't move, but her presence withdrew. Donna was sure she wasn't the only one who couldn't reach it. 

"I mean, coffee and catch-up sounds great, and if that's all you want, we can probably sit up all night. But if you're going to unzip me, I'd like to have an orgasm, please." 

CJ began to laugh, then blushed, then sighed, a deep ache of a sound, and looked the long distance down to her toes. 

Donna brushed up against her, just because it might be her last chance. 

CJ whispered, "You should tell people what you want from them more often." 

Donna toyed with the little black strap pinning the dress to CJ's body and slid the tips of her fingers between the cloth and the skin. She was sure CJ could feel the shiver from this sensation rush in the breath against her ear. 

“I can't believe you kept this." 

"It's a great dress." Donna was gratified by the hitch in her breathing. 

"He kissed you in it and he died." 

"I'm not superstitious." 

Donna's mouth was moving closer to her collarbone. 

"Besides, it reminds me of you, too." 

CJ was backed up against the door before she knew, and the twin black dresses pressed together in communion. It'd be a shame to separate them. Donna parted CJ's legs with her knee; nose nudged neck; she could feel perspiration on both their cheeks and- 

She yanked herself back before the kiss could happen and swallowed the groan in her throat just as she revelled in the sound breaking from CJ's. 

"I'll tell you what I want in there," she said. 

They'd worn black long enough. 

End. 


End file.
